Self license


A minimal, simple, self-applicable and self-declarative license standard, stack, and set.

Visit: https://legal.ikdao.org/license/

📘 Introduction

As human artifacts—particularly digital ones—have evolved across countless domains, the need for licenses to address issues like terms, rights, authorship, and ownership has grown significantly. Unfortunately, licensing has become unnecessarily complex, especially for developers, artists, and creators trying to quickly find suitable terms for their work.

Self License (SL) was created to simplify and minimize this process. It provides a bitwise, self-attested way to declare licensing terms for any creative output—digital or otherwise. It's particularly relevant for creators in India and South Asia, but not limited to them.

⚙️ Meaning & Philosophy

A Self License is one you attach yourself, based on a simple bitstring that expresses the conditions of use. "Self" refers to self-declaration and self-responsibility. Like nature or reality, there is no ownership or restriction unless explicitly declared.

🎯 Purpose

To simplify licensing through an easy-to-use and semantically readable standard—similar to Semantic Versioning (semver)—especially familiar to developers and digital creators.

🔢 Bitwise Structure

Each Self License is based on a **bitstring of up to 6 bits** (positions 0–5), written in order of increasing specificity.

Each bit is either:

  • 1 (true, exists/enabled)
  • 0 (false, not present/disabled)
  • x (undefined)

Positions:

Bit Position Meaning
0 Terms & Conditions If 1, the license includes explicit terms (custom or predefined).
1 Attribution If 1, attribution to the creator is required.
2 Accountability If 1, traceable contribution or relicensing must be maintained.
3 Source Openness If 1, source is open and inspectable.
4 Modifications If 1, modifications are allowed.
5 Commercial Use If 1, reselling and commercial use is permitted.

🧠 Bitwise Example

License Code: 101011

  Bit 0 (T&C):      1 → Terms exist
  Bit 1 (Attribution): 0 → No attribution required
  Bit 2 (Accountability): 1 → Accountability required
  Bit 3 (Source):      0 → Source is closed
  Bit 4 (Modification): 1 → Modifications allowed
  Bit 5 (Commercial):   1 → Commercial use allowed

This results in: Self License - 101011SL

The license reflects custom terms, accountability, permission to modify, and allow commercial use, without attribution or open source.

📄 License Naming Convention

The license name is derived from the bitstring + suffix SL:

0SL, 1SL, 10SL, 111SL, 101011SL, etc.

  • The shorter the bitstring, the more general the license.
  • Omitted (undefined) bits are considered unspecified (x) and should not be interpreted as either true or false.

🗂️ License Text Examples

🟢 Zero Self License - 0SL

Self License - 0SL

Work Name - Creator Name
A short description

I/We hereby declare:
No terms and conditions exist or made.

This work is open, free and can be taken as in public domain.
Made by, for, of, in common faith.
Any or all permissions can be implicitly taken as granted.

To know more: https://legal.ikdao.org/license/0sl

🔒 One Self License - 1SL

Self License - 1SL

Work Name - Creator Name
A short description

I/We hereby declare:
Terms and conditions exist or made.

[Optional list of custom terms...]

This work is reserved.

To know more: https://legal.ikdao.org/license/1sl

🌤️ Declared Values

Value Meaning
0 false / not present
1 true / present
x undefined / not stated

⚖️ Usage Guidelines

  • Use only the bits you need. The more bits, the more specific the license.
  • Prior bits must be declared before declaring later ones. (e.g., you cannot define position 4 if 0–3 are undefined.)
  • Custom terms are only valid if bit 0 is 1.
  • Use the make.sh script to generate a license interactively or via CLI.